THE AMERICAJS BEE JOURNAL- 



775 



City, Vice-President; Joseph Nyse- 

 waiider, of Des Moines, Treasurer; 

 and A. J. Norris, of Cedar Falls, for 

 Secretary. 



It was voted that the executive com- 

 mittee be instructed to form a new 

 constitution and by-laws, and present 

 the same at the next meeting for ap- 

 proval. An essay was then read by 

 Mr. Spaulding, making clear several 

 subjects of much interest, and several 

 (juestions were asked and answered 

 in the afternoon, and a social time 

 generally was enjoyed by all. 



Alsike clover was discussed with 

 much favor. The meeting continued 

 for three days, and all seemed to ex- 

 press the thought that it was time 

 well spent. A majority of the mem- 

 bers desired that when a member be- 

 came delinquent in dues, he should 

 not be considered a member until the 

 $1 was paid. Twenty-seven joined 

 the association and paid the required 

 dues. 



The year's record of bees and their 

 products was gathered by a commit- 

 tee, as follows : Number of bee-keep- 

 ers present, 40; number of colonies, 

 fall of 188o, 2,174, and number taken 

 from winter quarters in the spring of 

 1886, 1,819; number on June 1, 1,914. 

 Pounds of comb honey taken, mostly 

 in one-pound sections, 99 ,.500 ; pounds 

 of extracted, 83,200; honey sold,54,400. 

 Average price received for comb 

 honey, 14 cents per pound ; for ex- 

 tracted, 7 cents. Number of colonies 

 at present, 3,187; and average number 

 of pounds per colony, spring count, 

 101%. 



After a thorough discussion of 

 nearly all the leading questions in 

 bee-keeping, the executive committee 

 were instructed to appoint the time 

 and place for the next meeting, until 

 which time the convention then ad- 

 journed. A. J. NoBRis, Sec. 



For tbo American Beo Juumal. 



Legislation for Bee-Keepers, 



JAMES HEDDON. 



In response to Dr. Miller's candid 

 article on page 742, I believe I can 

 answer the argument which he makes 

 against my views, by stating a fact 

 which I believe nearly all who read 

 this will admit, viz : that it is not 

 always right, wise, nor feasible to 

 work for right and justice through the 

 channel of legislation. 



My knowledge of the principles of 

 common law is not very extensive, 

 but I will venture the assertion that 

 if we as bee-keepers desired to bring 

 ourselves into bad repute with the 

 legislators of our Nation, we could 

 not do it faster than by asking them 

 to enact such laws as are referred to 

 in the resolution placed in the hands 

 of the committee, to which Dr. Miller 

 refers. There are thousands of re- 

 forms needed— reforms that would 

 put justice in the place of injustice, 

 that it would be very unjust to in- 

 augurate by legislation. I will give 

 iust one example to illustrate, as fol- 

 lows: 



Nervous dyspepsia is a most preva- 

 lent and immoral disease. It makes 

 bad fathers, mothers, husbands and 

 wives ; begets impatience and cruelty 

 towards children, hard feelings be- 

 tween neighbors, and becomes a great 

 leader to alcoholic intemperance. We 

 all know that the great cause of this 

 happiness - and - morality destroying 

 disease, is over-eating, or indulging 

 one of the passions beyond the sanc- 

 tion of reason. Now, no one would 

 be insane enough to ask legislators to 

 create statute laws directing how, at 

 what time, and what quantity we 

 should eat. It is one of the very 

 many wrong conditions that it would 

 be nothing more nor less than a crime 

 to attempt to correct by legislation. 



It is my opinion that whoever will 

 present this proposed legislation to 

 an able lawyer will first receive a 

 smile in return. I am as full in the 

 faith to-day as at the time I wrote my 

 article on " Priority of Location," 

 that the position taken in that article 

 is just, practical and best. 



Perhaps in the above I have not 

 made clear my answer to all of the 

 doctor's questions. To have an ex- 

 clusive right and do the greatest good 

 to the greatest number, that right 

 should be in possession of the best 

 fitted to survive in our pursuit, and 

 it is in just such hands that it will 

 ultimately fall, if it is not tinkered by 

 legislation. Now, does the Doctor 

 get my idea of the relation between a 

 condition of bee-keeping that will re- 

 sult in the greatest good to the great- 

 est number, and the question of the 

 survival of the fittest V " Priority of 

 location " gives one a natural right 

 provided he is fitted to hold that loca- 

 tion, and I wrote that article with the 

 endeavor to fit those who read it to 

 hold their locations against the " in- 

 terloper." I pictured the natural 

 right of priority in order to inspire 

 the reader to fit himself to hold it, 

 thus giving him a right to hold it in a 

 broad as well as a narrow sense. 



Let me illustrate what I mean by a 

 broad and narrow sense : A wealthy 

 gentleman purchases 100 acres of land, 

 paying all cash and receiving a clear 

 title for the same. He at once erects 

 an impenetrable fence around it and 

 makes it a driving-park in which to 

 speed his fast horses and entertain his 

 profligate friends. The country in 

 which this is located is thickly popu- 

 lated, and people are destitute of the 

 necessary products of the soil. Thou- 

 sands are sitting outside this fence, 

 hungry and cold, begging leave to till 

 the soil. Now we all know that in a 

 narrow sense the gentleman owns that 

 100 acres, but there is a grander and 

 broader sense in which he has not a 

 moral tax-title to even a bowlful of 

 dirt. 



I have two apiaries in different 

 locations, and to-day both of these 

 localities are clear of other bees. I 

 have no fears but that they will re- 

 main so, except as now and then 

 some person will be unwise enough 

 to start up, and not having astuteness 

 enough to " catch on " to the weak- 

 ness of such an attempt, will soon 

 learn it by sad experience, as have tliree 

 or four persons who have already 



tried it in as many instances. I have 

 kept matters, in these locations, in 

 the above healthy condition by prac- 

 ticing what I preached in the '' pri- 

 ority " article referred to. 



I hope I fully appreciate the spirit 

 of the Doctor's arguments, and I trust 

 that he will take my reply in the same 

 spirit, for in such it is surely meant. 

 Yes, let us hear from Lawyer R. L. 

 Taylor. 



Dowagiac,? Mich. 



For the American Bee JounzaJ. 



My ExDPrience witli Carniolan Bees. 



C. G. BEITEL. 



I wish to say a few words about the 

 Carniolans, a race of bees which, I 

 think, is not yet properly appreciated 

 or understood, and in some instances 

 is, for interested motives, purposely 

 maligned. 



In the spring of 18&5 I ordered a 

 Carniolan queen. In reply I received 

 a postal stating that owing to the 

 poor satisfaction they had given to 

 his customers, the dealer quit rearing 

 them. This was, however, not satis- 

 factory to me— I had read too much 

 about them, and I determined to try 

 them myself, and consequently hear- 

 ing that another bee-keeper was sell- 

 ing these queens, I ordered one, which 

 I received on June 15, 1886, and at 

 once introduced her to a 3-frame 

 nucleus of Italians. 



They bred very fast, so that by 

 Aug. i7 they cast a fine swarm. Of 

 course this was rather late, but I 

 blamed myself some for it ; report 

 had it that the Carniolans used up all 

 their surplus in rearing young, and I 

 would occasionally feed them un- 

 finished sections, which, no doubt, 

 stimulated them to swarm, but I 

 hived tliem back, first removing all 

 queen-cells, and giving more frames. 

 They at once went to work with re- 

 newed vigor, and have been satis- 

 factory ever since. 



At the beginning of the present 

 month (November), while overhauling 

 my colonies preparatory to packing 

 for winter, I had opportunity to com- 

 pare their conditions, and while I 

 have Italians, Albinos, Syrians and 

 blacks in all their purity, and hybrids 

 and crosses of every description, not 

 one could show as much honey as the 

 Carniolans ; they were strong in num- 

 ber, and their hive was solid with 

 honey from side to side, in combs 

 nearly as white as snow ; there was 

 no soiling of the combs by the bees 

 running over them, and I thought that 

 like the cleanly house-keeper, they 

 wipe their shoes before they enter the 

 house. I attribute this to the fact 

 that they use little or no propolis. 

 They are not as bright in color as the 

 Italians, and therefore, perhaps, not 

 as attractive to a casual observer, yet 

 to my eyes they are beauties, and an- 

 swer ail the points given by Mr. Frank 

 Benton and others ; aiid as for 

 docility, thev are superior even to the 

 gentlest Italians. 



Their frequent swarming, so much 

 urged against them, I think not a 



